"Germany's opposition Social Democrats, who have long begrudgingly backed Merkel's euro-crisis course, have blasted the chancellor for bungling the Cyprus bailout."

"SPD head Sigmar Gabriel told SPIEGEL ONLINE on Tuesday evening. "Angela Merkel has made it possible that a country with fewer inhabitants than (the small German state of) Saarland has plunged the entire euro zone into chaos.""

"Gabriel said. "Restoring trust in Europe will be difficult.""

"SPD parliamentarian floor leader Frank-Walter Steinmeier joined in on Wednesday morning, although he shied away from frontal attacks on Merkel. "Yesterday evening, the euro crisis returned," he said on public television station ARD. "The chaos is complete.""

Athanasios Orphanides: “Russia has a near monopoly, to a large extent, of gas supply to continental Europe and there are significant gas finds in the territorial waters off Cyprus. From an economic perspective the blackmail that European governments have forced on Cyprus is essentially pushing Cyprus to work with Russia and this is going to lead to higher gas prices and tremendous economic cost for Europe. I hope that European leaders can actually meet their responsibilities and find a European solution to this problem before it gets worse.”

euronews: “Is this the beginning of the end of eurozone?”

Athanasios Orphanides: “I believe that unless European governments reverse the course that was outlined over the weekend, yes it is.”

It's all becoming very interesting in deed. With a rescue package coming from
Russia then Cyprus can pack up it's bags and leave the Euro if it wishes too.
This currency is most probably too over priced for Cyprus to be competative....
Cyprus, take Russia's money and run; you may not get a second chance. So just
you listen to Sirius and me...we have our fingers on the pulse and this pulse is
slowly fading away for the ECM with it's misfit Euro.The Kite Fliers

--------------------
Kite fliers: An imaginary club of solo members, those who don't yet
belong to a formal team so "fly their own kites" - as the saying goes.

MPs in Cyprus are due to begin voting on a series of bills that aim to raise the funds the country needs to secure an international bailout. The country is in a race against time after the European Central Bank gave Cyprus until Monday to find the money. If it does not, liquidity to the country's banks could be cut off and they could collapse.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades has been holding talks on the crisis with the EU-IMF "troika". Meanwhile, talks on new Russian financial aid for Cyprus have failed, Russia's finance minister confirmed. Anton Siluanov, speaking after talks with his Cypriot counterpart Michael Sarris, said Russian investors were not interested in Cyprus' offshore gas reserves. Mr Sarris, who has now left Moscow, had reportedly been seeking some 5bn euros (£4.3bn; $6.5bn) in return for bonds in energy and other assets, according to a report by Bloomberg news agency.

"We want Cyprus to remain in the euro zone," Merkel emphasized during her meeting with FDP parliamentarians. WHY?

"The German government has since admitted that communication was suboptimal at the European level. Had it been better, it is possible that the entire Cypriot drama could have been avoided altogether." So, not Brussels then?

"A source close to the negotiations earlier told the BBC's Mark Lowen in Cyprus that the rescue plans - as they stand - involve splitting Laiki Bank into "good" and "bad" banks.

Good assets would be merged with Bank of Cyprus and the toxic assets will stay in Laiki. Administrators will then be appointed to liquidate those assets. The bank will not be closed but will be hugely reduced in size. "

So this is being forced on the Cypriot Banks? Tell me Merkel, WHY wasn't this done to the banks that caused this financial mess in the first place? Too big a nation were they for you to dictate to?

"What shocked everyone, not just Cypriots, was the sudden, tactical and coercive manner in which both the IMF and the ECB attacked the incoming Cyprus government. It was the equivalent of the cops breaking down your door at 6am: perfectly legitimate if you have the legal right to do so, but it can seem excessive."

"In the end the crisis has exposed two weaknesses of modern German politics: first on economics, they don't seem able to move away from principle-driven action to outcome-driven action.

On the bigger geo-diplomacy - driving an EU member state into the arms of the Russians and sending a big sub-textual signal to other states close to Russia - it just begins to look like the Germans cannot do geo-politics."

Over many years Britain has been promoting a stronger unified Europe namely
because it feels this will keep the peace there. Germany being the stronger
and possessing the stronger economy too feels it should therefore be the
figure head of this stronger union, so lays down the rules and standards that
all member countries should abide by. Unfortunately most if not all other member
countries can not function under these rules or even attain the standards that
Germany can and the ECM system is not flexible enough to accommodate these
mismatches. To survive then the ECM will need to operate under a two tier
system of fiscal policy, one for the richer countries and one for the poorer.
This naturally would lead to a split ECM and not a unified one, a situation
Germany could not accept as this would mean an end to the European super state
dream. Where does Europe go from here now that Cyprus is ruined? An ideal
hot-bed for antagonist's to flourish within...will Cyprus now become our WWI
Serbia? Both Germany and Brussels owe a duty of care to all ECM member countries
who were allowed to join even though both knew some of these countries were not
fit to be members. The joining just appealed to their super state dream. But
rather that shoulder the full responsibility of their actions on taking these
lesser countries on board they have cracked a whip across these misfit countries
backs. They have said, "I knew you were a naughty boy before I let you in to
my sweet shop but now that you have done what I knew you would do and steal
some sweets....I'm going to cut off some of your fingers as punishment"!!

If the ECM dream is ever going to work then unfortunately for Germany she is
going to have to dramatically change her mind-set. Can she do it? dread to
think of the outcome if she does not. Will Britain end up regretting ever having
promoted this unified Europe in the first place?? Will Britain finally
recognise that a unified Europe under the banner of a super state is both
foolish and unworkable. To this end will she start the unwinding of this
super state by doing the one thing that would start this ball rolling...namely
leave the ECM and hope all others shortly follow.The Kite Fliers

--------------------
Kite fliers: An imaginary club of solo members, those who don't yet
belong to a formal team so "fly their own kites" - as the saying goes.

"German Chancellor Merkel has likewise not emerged unscathed. In much of Europe, her image is that of an overbearing, heartless know-it-all who cares little for the suffering of average people. And at home, voters were likewise less than impressed. In the most recent public opinion polls, her Christian Democrats have lost two percentage points of support."

Over the next 6 months, watch the banks deposits to'ing & fro'ing......

...which at the end of that period Germany will have a new chancellor!

Edit: - I should've done what I usually do when reading Der Spiegel - read it all then note what articles to use.... forgot to do it this time...

I know all about "Godwin's Law", however, I'm not the one invoking it - that privledge is down to a German citizen employed as a journalist on a German news magazine - a magazine famed for its expose's of political scandals & corruption....

"But this means nothing for the present. Just like twice before in our recent history, the Germans are falling deeper and deeper into conflict with their neighbors -- regardless of the cost. It's a path that could easily lead to fear of German political hegemony on the Continent. Indeed, Merkel's idea of European integration is simply that Europe should bend to Germany's political will."

Note The color ink is as printed in the article, but had it not been highlighted, I would have done so!

Brussels and the ECB won't like the UK's currency swaps deal with China nor us
also becoming the major western hub for the Renminbi. I bet Brussels is going to
break it's back in getting full control of the City of London....Cameron is
most probably dumb enough to let them take control, he still fails to show any
recognition yet that the game for the ECM is coming to and end. He should be
taking protective measure for this eventuality.....but he's not. I feel that if
the Euro M.P. elections go bad for the three main parties next year then we will
surely see some desperate actions coming from the Cons. I have an idea as to what
they will be mustering come the elections in 2015 for I suspect they will be
forced into it come what may.

The Kite Fliers

--------------------
Kite fliers: An imaginary club of solo members, those who don't yet
belong to a formal team so "fly their own kites" - as the saying goes.

This is all because we are in a depression and have been since 2008. Governments
have managed to cover this up with QE but they can't keep covering it for ever.
The cracks are beginning to show, first the minnows fall then too be followed by
the majors.

The Kite Fliers

--------------------
Kite fliers: An imaginary club of solo members, those who don't yet
belong to a formal team so "fly their own kites" - as the saying goes.